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GOP makes offer Obama can refuse

Obama, intent on boosting U.S. exports, wants a Pacific Rim trade deal by the end of 2013 — and it’s a key priority for House Republicans and U.S. companies, including financial firms like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, which operate around the world. Plus, hopes are high that the administration will start negotiations early in 2013 over a major trade and investment pact with the European Union.

The international trade deals give Obama the chance to champion U.S. economic interests abroad even as the business community continues to grumble that his policies at home are crimping their profits.

“I believe this is an ideal moment to work with Congress and the administration on an ambitious free-trade agenda,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue told the chamber’s board of directors last week.

Still, Obama’s credentials as a free-trade advocate are suspect among many in the business and foreign policy communities. And Republicans remain frustrated that Obama has not yet requested so-called fast-track trade negotiating authority, which would be needed to push any final trade deal through the 113th Congress.

The administration’s foreign economic policy team is also facing serious turnover, with point man Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner heading for the exits.

On trade, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk is also set to leave his post, with Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, seen as a top candidate to replace him. And Rebecca Blank, who heads the Commerce Department, still has an “acting” next to her title.

How those trade positions are filled will be “important signals to the business community,” said the chamber’s senior director for international policy, Christopher Wenk.

If trade deals are made, they probably wouldn’t hit the House or Senate floor until late 2013, at the earliest. But Obama will have other chances to weigh in on foreign economic policy in 2013, most notably when it comes to international taxation. Corporate leaders are betting that congressional tax writers and the White House can work out a long-awaited tax overhaul in 2013 that moves the United States closer to a territorial tax system.

But Obama has repeatedly proposed measures aimed at penalizing companies that keep earnings overseas and rewarding those that invest in the United States.

And the Business Roundtable, a prominent group of CEOs, is already working to shape perceptions and ensure that lawmakers view multinationals as integral to the U.S. economy, not a target for tax hikes.